World's Tallest Buildings

Skyscrapers of the World

Magnificence and beauty of skyscrapers are fascinating. They add night-lights to city, they accelerate city life as they compete with each other rising fearlessly up into the sky.

The tallest skyscraper is Burj Khalifa, located in Dubai, UAE. Its height is 828 meters, and it has 163 floors.

The second tallest building is the Shanghai Tower. The height of the Chinese wonder is 632 meters or 128 floors. The business center is also called Shanghai Center and it consists of 250 hotel rooms and many floors of corporate offices.

Third of the top highest buildings is Makkah Royal Clock Tower. The iconic high-rise is located in the center of Mecca, in Saudi Arabia. Hotel complex has 850 rooms, and its decorated with a clock and crescent central 120-story tower Abraj Al-Bait reaches a height of 601 meters.

Also, it is interesting to know that New York is the tallest city considering number of high-rise buildings exceeding the 100-meter mark. There are about 800 of such buildings in metropolis. Skyscrapers of New York became a symbol of America and its brandmark.

China, the United States and the United Arab Emirates are leaders in terms of number of mega-large skyscrapers. They are significantly ahead of other countries in number of buildings whose height is above 300 meters.

History of skyscrapers

The first high-rise buildings were Two Towers in Bologna, Italy, built between 1109 and 1119. The tower Asinelli was originally 70 meters high, and later it was built up to a height of 97.2 meters. On the opposite, the tower Garisenda was about 60 meters high but because of sloping it was cut to 48 meters. Both towers have survived to this day.

The Manhattan Life Insurance Building was the first building with height exceeding 100 meters. Built in 1894, the skyscraper reached a mark of 106 meters. 18-stories building was later demolished to construct another one.